The influence of social media on eating disorder recovery is multi-faceted.

While it can promote awareness, peer support and recovery motivation, it can also reinforce harmful comparisons and unrealistic expectations. However, users don’t need to be experts in social media to take control of their online environment; accessible platform features allow users to personalise their feeds and refine content in ways that better support recovery.

A few top tips:

  • Reporting harmful posts or accounts can sometimes feel pointless, especially when the outcome is not immediately visible. However, content that is reported by multiple users is more likely to be reviewed, and doing so can also reduce the likelihood of similar harmful material appearing on your social media feed in the future.
  • Most functions can be undone, so it can be helpful to try a more extreme approach to see if there is a positive impact on your mental health- you can always unblock, refollow etc
  • Social media platforms require a degree of “training” to become personalised to each user. By actively engaging with content you find supportive and blocking or ignoring unhelpful material, you help the platform learn your preferences, increasing the likelihood that similar, more beneficial content will be promoted in the future.
  • Be aware that not everything you see on social media is true or real. There has been a rise in AI generated content, so it is important to fact check any information you see and even content generated by creators may not be a true representation of their life.
  • It is possible to reset the ‘for you’ page (tiktok) or ‘suggested content’ (instagram). This can be helpful if you are wanting to refresh the content shown or are wanting to steer your online environment in a different direction.

By Emily, EmpowerED Expert by Experience

Navigating social media in eating disorder recovery - Presentation 

In keeping with the theme of building a community this edition’s ‘Toolkit’ looks a little different. We want the input of our community - all of you. We want to know what supports you at times of difficulty and how you support others - it might be as simple as a cup of tea or perhaps there’s one person you can always turn to. We will curate the results and thus build a community toolkit - a collection of the things that keep our community strong and well.

Follow the link to complete survey - EmpowerED community toolkit survey

Our community is glued together through trust, networks and shared values. Let's strengthen that glue.

Get in touch!: cwp.empoweredforum@nhs.net

Visit our website: www.empowerednw.nhs.uk